Spartan 076 Birth of a Reclaimer
by freelancer92
Summary: The second novel in the 076 trilogy. James, taken under the Forerunner, will be trained to be a Reclaimer, the last hope humanity has...
1. Prologue

**Spartan-076**

**Birth of a Reclaimer**

**Prologue**

Thought to be lost in the fires of Reach.

He floated amongst the enemies feats.

There's a stain on his hand and its red

But gives no attention in his head

He kills for his forgotten life

Still bets against destiny's dice

Too much time to remember the fallen

For in old days was always shipped away

Months he slaved through distant suns gaze

The thought of his siblings death

Was his feelings theft

Void fills his mind

Who were and why?

For his hope is still lost

His life has no cost

Consciousness slips his mind

Full of fear; ever clear

Sore and sick

Times goes by with a tick

Answers he needs

But ghostly figures do no deeds

Goes into coma, one more time

Angry, determined

Stands up with grace

And meets a forgotten race

Horror plays over his mind

Fear clings to his spine

But the forerunner stands firm

I'll tell you stories of a better time

In a place we once knew

It says

The Spartan knew he was no fool

Death, flood, reclaimers, betrayal, halo

Failure, a familiar name

We need Reclaimers for the war

He's nervous

But on the surface he looks calm and steady

James answers:

I am yours.

He was a Spartan

Trained to fight

Taught to kill

But the Path of the Reclaimer was at his feet.

Earth is what's worth fighting for

Success is his only option

A Reclaimer was born.


	2. Chapter One: Training

**Chapter One**

**Training**

**0300 Hours, October 28, 2552(Military Calendar)/**

**REVISED DATE Location Unknown.**

Pain. He was used to it by now. Holding the damn weapon was a challenge on its own, even if he was a Spartan.

Correction: A Reclaimer.

James stood on the simulated training grounds with the _Jalen, _the most powerful weapon he had ever crossed upon; a weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield. The staff is a quantum capacitor, stores energy on the quantum level. Using nanotechnology, it can put out a particle pulse that is controllable in its intensity as well as its dispersal such as a shotgun burst, a beam like strike, and a 360 degree explosion. Using full intensity and fully charged, it could take out a capital ship if you hit the right spot.

If it doesn't blow your arms off with it.

The recoil was a whole different story. If not handled properly, it could kick back at you so hard it would impale you through the armor. Or if it misses your body it can literally rip your arms off.

That was the point of this exercise: to learn how to survive through the recoil on certain levels. After a few weeks of training, he still didn't have the power output up to fifty percent.

James didn't complain; he learned long ago that it got you nowhere. So he powered the training armor on, which held a fraction of the power the real one had. All it was a shell of aggregated diamond nanorods with basic training simulations. That didn't mean it wasn't hard. He hefted the staff and power flowed from the armor through the gauntlets.

Weeks he had been doing this training. Along with using the armor systems, which was even more of a challenge. The stress of having to deal with such complicated technology was extremely difficult, but amazing when pulled off right.

He didn't even want to think of the Forerunner Destroyer. The ship was thirteen stories high and almost covers an area of three football fields wide. The ship, which was usually commanded by a crew of roughly twenty Forerunners, had to be manned by one trainee.

_If there was only a way to speed up this training... earth is at risk. _James thought

He banished his thoughts and focused on powering the quantum capacitor. A meter on his HUD indicated his power levels. It reached a quarter charge.

That's the level he wanted. Any higher and his arms wouldn't be strong enough to hold onto the staff, not to mention for his arms to stay in their sockets without the proper training. His neural reactor uplink to the staff allowed him to use it from one thought from his mind.

That was the first thing the Forerunner now known as Chrosenthis augmented. The great thing about it was that if it was ever stolen it couldn't be used against him.

His thought of firing the Jalen turned real when eight bursts of blue energy exploded out from the shaft and vaporized the simulated flood combat forms.

_boom _A massive shockwave kicked back at James. His arms grabbed hold of the shaft and didn't let it fly into the opposite direct; or even into him. A few seconds later, the simulated environment shutoff.

_"James, are you ready to increase the power output?"_ Chrosenthis asked over the speakers above him.

_Finally_. James thought and answered "Yes."

_"Increase your power output to 45 percent."_

James did a series of notions with his fingers and eyes and his HUD responded. With it, the staff hummed with more energy.

For a few days the Forerunner had broke down and unveiled the full Forerunner history and their plans for Universal order; until the Flood came into play.

_"Exercise, begin."_

The concrete walls and yellow lights vanished from James' feet as the training exercise began. It turned into a massive dark room with flood, grunt, and elite blood on the walls. The floor was cracked in some places, revealing even a more deathly tone to the environment. The bodies of several "present day Covenant" were on the ground; clad in Forerunner made armor.

The Jalen still hummed and glowed with energy. James bent his knees to a half crouch, with the Jalen point outwards, away from his body.

The now all too familiar screech from the bodies of the flood rang throughout his ears. His eyes darted left and right, looking for the twisted flesh and bone.

An elite combat form burst through a door on his left, and James thought about the Jalen firing a precision beam. Once again his thoughts turned to reality after a concentrated particle beam sprung from the staff and vaporized the body of a once elite.

More combat forms broke through a wall to his right. This time, the combat forms of humans and the twisted Forerunner, which was odd; James was taught that the Forerunners were either Carrier forms or Brain forms due to them not having the physical capacity for fighting,.

He squelched the thought; speculating made for a fine mental exercise, but not when feeding crazed parasites are only meters in front of you.

James did a shotgun burst on the flood forms charging him. Most of them were vaporized in the initial volley, but more kept coming; James was content with vaporizing them from twenty feet out.

Many infection forms scurried behind the combat forms trying to get a bite out of him. One jumped up and landed on James's leg. He quickly raised his wrist and spikes came out from the plates, he then brought it down upon the infection form. The flood form popped and wet flesh stuck to James's armor.

He continued to fire shotgun bursts until no more came; and the recoil was getting easier to handle. But he could feel his arms getting sore from the stress and weight. He calmly walked forward, and crept through the flood made door.

He entered into a dark hallway with the sickly yellow-green blood of the flood all over the walls. The ceiling was thirteen feet above him; not exactly a lucky number. More bodies of the Forerunner Coalition were on the ground. The Reclaimer-in-training realized that using the Jalen in the hallway would bring down the supports; bringing the roof down.

James smiled; this was to test his CQC abilities with the spiked end of the Jalen. Which was also his first training with the weapon: holding and using it in close quarter combat. It was more of an art, rather than methods for killing endless amounts of foes. He crouched with the spike ended thrusted forward.

_Success is your only option._

The omnipresent voice returned again. James counted that this was the fourth time it had come to him while he was training. Chrosenthis told him it was "the lost souls of time". But that just sounded like something out of a child's novel.

The screech of the parasite came once again and James got eager to put his CQC abilities to the test. The first wave of combat forms rushed him. One of them jumped six feet into the air and lashed with its tentacles. The ex-Spartan brought the Jalen to bear, and struck upwards, slicing it in half and destroying the infection form inside it. He did a one eighty turn and did a diagonal slash at the one that tried to flank him.

For several minutes he did a combination of lethal swipes, stabs followed side steps; and then repeated the process. The simulation ended. The once dark hallway collapsed and morphed into a steel room which was one square kilometer in size.

Blue tiles and transparent panels filled the room and created the realistic environment. A door at the far end opened and the Forerunner A.I. hovered into the room. Its shoulders were more sagged, and the bags under its eyes were more pronounced. James was amazed at the technology behind it; that it could actually do something such as physical features that change.

James lifted his helmet off his head and walked toward Chrosenthis. The once Forerunner warrior stopped where he was, signaled for James to follow him, and then walked out the door. James shrugged in the half-ton armor and continued to walk on.

He exited through the door and Chrosenthis was waiting for him. "Follow me," he said "I have to show you something."

"What?" James asked

The Forerunner said nothing in return. He was being incredibly stubborn this morning. Maybe something was bugging him, maybe something happened. No matter what, James would do something.

"I have to take you deeper into the structure." It explained

_That's a surprise. Maybe something did happen. _ James pondered

"How much deeper?"

"Deeper."

_I just can't get anything out of him._

"Ok, does it have something to do with Installation 04 being destroyed?"

It studied James' face, and their eyes locked. It was looking inside of him, trying to figure out what drove him; what made him. It finally answered "Yes, but not everything. I can't see the Prophets destroying something they treasure; so that only means one thing. You humans have found it; and what you say is true about most of your race not knowing about your past, then you would see it as a threat. Considering the amount of power it holds."

"I see. I think I know who," James put the pieces together in his mind, and the Forerunner noticed his long exhale. "Remember when you went over the stellar coordinates of the Halo's with me a few days ago?"

"Yes."

"Well, when the Covenant invaded one of our planets, the team I was part of found a granite rock that the Covenant was particularly interested in. On this rock, was the coordinates for Installation 04. But I didn't know at the time for obvious reasons. We took it and the coordinates were given to our team's A.I. for safe keeping until we got to our base planet Reach." He paused, remembering the fallen as they walked towards a grav beam that would take them further into the structure. "When Reach got glassed, the ship my unit was on must've escaped to Halo using those coordinates. Like you said, considering the amount of power it holds and the flood, they most likely destroyed it."

Chrosenthis nodded at James in approval. "Do you think the old members of your unit survived?"

They both walked into the grav lift.

James stared at the helmet he held in one arm in thought. "Yes, I full confidence that they did."

"Never rely on hope, rely on facts." It coldly stated.

James didn't take it personally, so he moved on. "So why does all this secrecy have to shroud 04 being destroyed?"

"I told you, it's just not about Halo 04 being destroyed."

"So? Was another Halo destroyed?"

"No, but one was activated, and then put in standby mode."

"Which one?"

"05... you know what the means?"

"Yeah, they found another Halo, and somehow they figured out how to activate it using the index but then stopped it. Most likely being forced by the Covenant since we are the only ones allowed to activate them, as per protocol."

"Not only that, but the shield world and the Ark have been activated."

"What? We're running out of time." James exclaimed

"We are and that's why I have to speed up your training."

"You are?"

"Yes. We're headed to the intensive care medical wing right now." It said as it stepped off the lift.

**A/N: Well there you have it! Chapter one is up! I hope you guys enjoy. This chapter fleshed out my ideas of forerunner; more in particular Chrosenthis. You can see after what he has been through he is a realist. As always Read and Review.**

**Forerunner Armor, and weapons are a product of the mind of HavocLegionnaire and his trusty Weapons Consortium.**


	3. Chapter Two: The Past Meets The Future

**A/N: Wow sorry for the long wait. School has been very busy with exams coming up, and my teachers seem to be cramming as much as they can before exams. As well as school, the Halo 3 Beta came out last week, and I have had a hard time tearing myself away from that. Without further ado, here is chapter two! **

**Chapter Two**

**The Past meets the Future.**

**0315 Hours, October 28, 2552(Military Calendar)/**

**REVISED DATE Location Unknown**

James stepped off of the grav lift and onto the cold sterile tile floor. The forerunner A.I. floated ahead and led James to the medical wing. He looked around at the walls and besides the occasional blood smear they were all painted in the same pale white color. The Spartan wondered how many warriors, covenant and human alike, had gone through these halls.

He noticed that he was falling behind the forerunner and quietly picked up his pace. The once forerunner warrior took a sharp left turn and stopped abruptly at a door, which looked more like thick slab of stone. The A.I. 'pressed' a series of buttons and placed his hand on the panel; no doubt checking his DNA.

Was that possible for an A.I.? Did the ones the forerunners create still keep not only their memories and personal traits, but there bodily functions and DNA? The Spartan was once again in awe.

The doors opened and they entered a dark room. The forerunner hit a switch, or touched another holo panel, and the lights blared on; James' eyes didn't have trouble adjusting. The room was circular and held many medical items, none of which were placed in orderly fashions. Used syringes were lying on the floor, a long with bags of used IV and other medical fluids. Was the Forerunner seriously going to augment him more in this environment?

"Take of your armor." He demanded

That answered his question and James did so; he placed his helmet on a table next to him, and started unlocking the shoulder plates and gauntlets. Compared to his old MJOLNIR armor, it was easy to take off. He unlocked the last shin guard and unzipped the body suit.

The forerunner motioned him to lie on a vertical table. The metal table hung from the center of the room and was five meters long. Chrosenthis pressed another button and the table moved and lay horizontally. He lay on the table, and cold unforgiving wrist locks clamped and held him in place. More on his legs locked him in place. James' pale body seemed to camouflage itself amongst his surroundings.

Chrosenthis inserted a series of needles into his arms, legs and torso. More unfamiliar cords were inserted into his body, and heart monitors and screens winked on. A cold sweat trickled down James' forehead, he was scared. Memories of the previous augmentation flashed through his mind: the burning sensation along his nerves, feeling as if glass had been shattered in his bone marrow, the fever, and so many more haunting memories.

"I'm sorry, but this will be painful." Chrosenthis whispered.

Chrosenthis placed a breathing mask over his mouth, and James fell asleep.

James woke up in a dark room; silk red robes flowed on his body. The room was dark and hollow. There was a light in the center of the room, and James instinctively walked toward it. He moved his right leg, but pain shot up and he fell on one knee. This had to be some bad dream.

He moved his left arm to balance his weight, but the bone snapped in half, and the arm fell limp. He yelled in agony as it reconstructed itself. The light came closer to him. He reached for it with his right arm, but it too snapped.

The pain was unbelievable. He was going to die, he was certain of it. After fighting for so long, being in so many situations were death brushed his nose and past him, he was going to die here.

The light was a meter in front of him now. A large man sat on a crate, head in one of his hands. Shattered glass and small power boxes littered the floor around him. The man looked familiar to James, but he didn't know him. He tried to reach out with his arm, but it was stiff with a burning pain. James, a Spartan, sat on two knees, helpless, and in pain.

The man took his head out of his hands, and James got his first glimpse at his tear stained eyes. It instantly made James want to cry. He didn't know this man, so how was he affecting him this much?

"Who are you?" James asked as best he could.

The man stood up, he was over three meters tall and at least a half a meter wide. He wore only the bottom half of Reclaimer armor and his upper body was absolutely ripped; muscles covered his body. But on those muscles were scars, long, harsh, unforgiving scars. Along his face one scar ran from the left side of his forehead to the bottom of his chin.

The man looked so familiar. James picked up a shard of glass, and looked into it. His eyes were brimming with tears. He threw the shard away and looked up at the man, and realized who it was.

It was _him_; a reflection, a copy. He was staring into a mirror and it was staring back at him.

"I am Jacobus; and you are my direct descendant." James recognized the voice; it was the same voice that had spoken to him during training; his voice.

"I have watched you train, grow, learn. Nothing, nothing will be able to teach you the horrors of the flood. And what they really do. Nothing can teach you unless you have experienced it. I agreed to have Chrosenthis strip me of my burden and pass it on to you; my memories." He paused

"These memories will be integrated into your soul; your second nature will be your armor. You'll know everything, but with a price. Some…things will trigger a memory, and this memory will put you into a blind rage. This rage is what killed my fellow brothers and sisters, as well as me. You must learn to control your rage! You must not follow our path; you are the last hope for your kind."

His ancestor grew paler, more ghost like. He was being stripped of all his life, he was finally going to his peace. A black mist blew towards James, and it traveled through his nostrils and mouth. Every muscle, every cell in his body, every tendon grew. Pain lashed out at his body, his nerves burned, his bones ached and his muscles tore. His mind blurred with visions of battlefields, death, and the flood. Brother and sister reclaimers died before his eyes.

He couldn't take it, he wanted to cry. A slight pressure was applied on his shoulder and he looked up. The last true Reclaimer stood above him and entered his soul. More pain was twisted into his body. He yelled, and his voice was distorted. Something else sounded through his voice.

Images burned into his retinas. His mind had been branded by pain. James' eyes widened, he grinned, and yelled again. This time, it was the cry of the reclaimers.

He was born.

Chrosenthis stood and watched James convulse. Blood spewed from his mouth and he coughed. His bones visibly moved inside his skin and yet a smile formed on his face. He yelled and Chrosnethis moved back, physically shocked at what James had become.

His legs stretched and his body length grew to ten feet. His stomach muscles tensed and hardened. His whole body changed.

Chrosenthis was worried at what James might become, what he might do. Implementing the memories did speed up his training, but at a high cost. The induced memories were like inserting him with a syringe filled with pure rage. If anything ever made those memories surface, James would have a very hard time controlling it.

The forerunner warrior remembered what happened to the first reclaimers after the drug was implemented into them to make the animal part of brain become always accessible. The drug wiped out twenty-five percent of the Reclaimers, because they had gotten themselves killed using the animal brain in a killing frenzy.

Maybe he would let James train and rehabilitate longer than normal. The beings in the _Sahrak _wouldn't be able to leave unless they possessed forerunner technology. Though it was the ark he was worried about.

_Have no fear. _He quietly whispered into James' ear. He took a chip out, inserted some of James' blood into it and walked away.

He left the med room and entered a different room across the hall. Full Reclaimer battle suits stood in cases to protect them from dust and harmful particles. Jalens stood in even rows and Reclaimer heavy sniper rifles stood next to them. Every surviving weapon was in here. Enough power cells for the heavy sniper rifles to last a very long battle against the flood.

He took the sample of James' blood and inserted the chip into a suit of armor. The armor winked to life and power flowed from it. Good, it was a match.

Each suit was made specifically for a certain reclaimer's blood line, and only activated when that certain blood line was the user of the suit. This was the same armor Jacobus had used and in turn, James will use.

Everything was ready and Chrosenthis turned the suit off. He walked out the door and back into the medical room. James had stopped convulsing and laid there breathing heavily. Good, the augmentations had finished.

It would be several hours before James would wake up. The Spartan's mind would need time to recover its motor skills with a changed body; he was extremely bulky but in time he will be fast and agile.

James' eyes fluttered and Chrosenthis was stunned. No, this shouldn't be happening. His eyes fluttered again and his mouth moved to speak. Soft words were heard from his mouth:

"_erhan eram conbev ex meus ancestorioss sepulchrum. Suus phasmatis repleo meus inritus. Ay reclaiemus erhan aves fio. Reclaiemus erhan mos intereo."_

Chrosenthis froze. The last two lines were from the Reclaimer writ of teachings. Those who graduate as reclaimers would speak the lines in their pledge. How could he be accessing those memories so soon?

James stopped moving all together. His breathing slowed and the blood that came from his mouth started to dry. Blisters and scabs covered his ripped body. His heart rate slowed and he finally slipped into a coma.

The forerunner wondered if he had made the right choice.

**A/N: Shorter Chapter, but for the better. I wanted to end this now so the next chapter I could get back into some action. And the chapter after that is when it really starts to heat up. As always, Read and Review.**


	4. Chapter Three: Memories BCE

**Chapter Three**

**Memories B.C.E.**

**[[\REVISE DATE\ RECOMMEND SYSTEM REBOOT**

Images flooded his head: training, tactics, memories of battles. James visibly twitched as a memory crossed over him. It was a courtyard lined by deciduous trees and marble buildings; small children running were running around with their smiling parents watching over him. The happy memory was stolen from him and changed with fire. Pain induced him as civilians were infected by the flood. Flames filled the homes as Jirlhanek poured their plasma into them. The war was so brutal, so desperate. How could the prophets start something like this?

A different memory passed over him. The Forerunners had arrived on Earth… and had given everything to the humans, and in turn they fought for them with passion and their life. The Reclaimers were the most peaceful people he had ever witnessed. But they had no problem picking up the sword and defending the forerunners. James was ready to fight; his mind was awake, but his body or muscles did not respond. He was asleep for now.

The Prophets will pay for what they did.

---------------------------------------

James was so quiet this time, his toned body was pale as ever with the exception of blood stains scattered on it. Chrosenthis looked over his body, up his torso and to his…

Artificial arm; Chrosenthis had completely forgotten about it. The Metal-plastic compound would snap in milliseconds under the weight and stress of the armor.

_So much to do, so little time._ Chrosenthis thought.

The Forerunner grabbed a scalpel from the medical tray nearest to him, and cut a piece of skin from his other arm. He scanned his finger prints, sampled his blood, and accessed the files on his muscle structure and bone marrow.

He walked to the other side of the room, and powered on the machine that lay before him. It was a rectangular, clear metallic box. A central meter long tube hung in the center of the box, supported by smaller branching tubes which led to containers on the outside.

Chrosenthis placed the blood sample in one of the containers, placed the scans and file reports into other containers. The Machine rumbled with energy, blowing off the dust that covered it. In a short few hours, new bone, muscle, and tissue would be cloned into James new arm, another thing that would cause more pain for the soldier.

The Forerunner left the medical room and entered a small room with several terminals lining the walls. He walked up to one and accessed the Halo system stats.

Installation 04 had been destroyed, installation 05 had been put in stand by mode after the index was removed during firing mode, and the flood had been released there. One final problem to add to the list was the shield world being activated. With the _Setprovies _guarding the core, and those who were in the core, no one could enter the system without being annihilated.

Unless, of course, they were Reclaimer. James's body was still going through some drastic changes. His height grew to 30.5 meters, and his core and muscles had grown to an inhuman size. Those wouldn't slow him down though.

It was the Reclaimer's neural reaction time that was their deadliest weapon. They could anticipate and dodge an incoming sentinel blast, also process the movements and strategy in milliseconds. The Sentinels were no match. No one was a match.

The Reclaimers were still prone to the flood though. Several had been infected by infection forms and they to became Graveminds. Once the flood completely manipulated their minds and accessed their memories, they learned at a considerable rate. Critical intelligence was accessed, and the locations of their bases, tactics, troop movements were given away to the flood. It ultimately gave the flood an unprecedented advantage.

_So many fallen..._ He cringed at a memory.

He banished the thought and focused at his task. As soon as James was combat ready he would have to be sent to Installation 05 to meet with _Penitent Tangent_, to assess the situation and try to contain the flood so they wouldn't have to activate Halo.

Then, he would be sent to the shield world to extract those who were in it and to find any useful items for the protection of Earth and the Ark.

The thought of Earth surfaced another memory. He had been a part of the expedition force to find the Humans. When they did find them, they were so…barbaric. Countless wars with no end, medieval technology, and they hadn't even made it to the other side of their glorious planet.

It was amazing how much they had changed.

Chrosenthis left the room and traveled up the lift. He longed for a body again and being an A.I. was depressing. Why was he tasked with training the next Reclaimers? He would've preferred to have died with his family.

The Forerunner stepped off the lift and onto one of many floors of the training complex. The building was built eons ago with the strongest and most durable alloys. After this long time, not one piece of it had been rusted or corroded away, nor had the structural integrity been compromised. Even when the flood came and attacked it, they had not been able to get inside.

The door parted for him and the lights winked on automatically. The room was one of several armories located in the complex. It held all the essential weapons for the Reclaimers. It also held training weapons for the trainees.

The Forerunner walked up to one of many glass cases, and in it, were rows of _Jalen's _and the _Sehk_, a high powered long range rifle. It used Quantum energy to emit a lethal particle beam in a split second. One shot would vaporize a flood host, and the nature of the shot would pass through one host and into several others.

Chrosenthis grabbed one of each and left the room. He went down the same lift and walked into the room that held James's armor. It stood there, stoic and motionless, but so powerful. The anti-matter containers, which looked like wings, made the armor look like something of an angel. Once the Prophets see it though, fear will be stricken into their hearts. Nothing will stop the revenge that makes its way through James' blood; the revenge for his lost Reclaimer siblings, and Spartans.

He lay the weapons on a table next to the armor, and left the room. The A.I. walked into the medical room, and sat, and waited.

----------------------------

**Eighth Cycle, 54 Units (Covenant Battle Calendar)/  
****Joyous Exultation, system Salia.**

The council chamber was filled with the highest ranking Sangheili leaders; the air was thick with hate and treachery. The Prophets had betrayed their kin, and they would pay for it. The Imperial Commander stood upon the podium, his body appearing no less then of a god. A hologram of him was projected so he was nearly three times his size, and five of his faces appeared, seeing over, and intimidating everyone.

His voice engulfed the room "The Fleet Master has failed us, council members! He has lost in his holy task to obtain the Forerunner treasures from the human world _Onyx_. We must send the fleet to sweep it of the human vermin."

A ripple of talk amongst the council members filled the stadium. The stadium itself was several centuries old, and with only the most important places reinforced for the safety of the occupants. Otherwise, it was old and rotting. The noise was abruptly stopped as the chamber doors opened, and the least expected person had entered.

The Arbiter was flanked by a Gold armored Fleet Master and a white armored Sangheili officer; they casually walked and his voiced echoed throughout the chamber. "You will do no such thing!"

The five faces of the Imperial Commander changed expressions to one of shock. The rumors were true, The Arbiter had survived. "Arbiter! You grace us with your presence, but your tongue speaks treason!" His voice was filled with a hint of anger.

The arbiter continued forward without a reply. The Imperial Commander casually stepped off the podium and whispered. "Choose your words carefully, Arbiter." He snarled.

The Arbiter glanced at him, "Xytan Wittinree, I expect you to do the same."

He stepped upon the podium and took in his surroundings. He was only going to have one shot at this, "Members of the Sangheili council, I come to you with, more but a message," he took a pause, it was all or nothing now. "We have been betrayed by the Prophets, discarded as if we were nothing. We must kill them for this treachery!"

The room filled with growls of approvals.

"Not only did they betray us, but they lied to us! The Halo's will not save us, or propel us to salvation! No, the prophets would have us killed before the machines!" This time the crowd erupted into frenzy; shouting curses at the Arbiter.

"Listen to me!" He demanded, "I know the truth, and so the Monitor will tell you!"

The White armored officer stepped forward and unfastened his cloak. The glowing sphere floated into the air, and looked cautiously around. The Arbiter gestured for it too come but was grabbed by Xytan.

"We will not hear your heresy! You speak the words of the humans!" he cursed. The crowd favored him with shouts.

"I have learned the truth!" He repeated, "If you will not listen to me you will die!" The crowd was unwilling hear his words.

"Let him speak!" a fragile voice said from the crowd.

All eyes turned to the speaker, and was recognized as the Supreme Councilor 'Razotee. His elaborate headdress stood out amongst the crowd, and his old warrior's body moved slow and graceful. His two honor guards flanked him on both sides, with their energy swords hilts secured on their legs.

"My son," he nodded to the Fleet Master in Gold armor.

The Supreme Councilor raised his hands and calmed the crowd, and stepped up towards the Arbiter. "They are not ready for this yet. But we must ally ourselves…I saw the two outside."

"Yes, councilor."

"If you will not hear my words, I will not tell you them." He whispered into the mic. "But I must tell you! We must ally ourselves with the humans, and together we will banish the Jiralhanae into the depths of the universe!"

Uproar of disapproval deafened the room; and the Supreme Councilor rose to the stage. "I have experienced the humans in combat, and they should not be discarded to the side! You are all experienced warriors; you know their tenacity and skills in combat. If it weren't for our-"

"That is enough Councilor!" Xytan roared over his voice. "We will no longer open our ears to your heresy! You wish to ally ourselves with our enemies, and fill our chambers with lies of deceit!"

"By your stubborn blood we will lose everything in our proud Sangheili race! We will ally ourselves with the humans because they are the rightful heirs to the Forerunner Empire! And they are our brothers in arms!" The Arbiter bursted in frustration.

The crowd abruptly became silent; and Xytan walked up to the Arbiter. "I will give you one last chance to stow your tongue. Leave now, before I take your head."

The Arbiter glared at him, hate, and betrayal glowing in his eyes. He held his anger within him, and growled at his companions. The four proud Sangheili walked from the podium and back to the doors. The chamber was silent save for the Arbiters heavy footsteps; the eyes of all were upon them.

But they held their heads high, knowing that there was nothing they could to convince the elders; and that would lead them to their deaths.

**A/N: Well, there you go. Sorry for the long wait…shit came up. I'll do my best to keep this going longer. Reviews are always welcomed.**


	5. Chapter Four: Regroup

Chapter Four

Regroup

0622 Hours, November 1, 2552 (military calendar) \

Aboard Sangheili controlled Super Carrier, _Unseen Treachery_

Slipspace, en route to Earth.

Close to a hundred Sangheili ships sped through slipspace in a hurry to make it to Earth before the Brutes and the Prophet of Truth beat them too it. The Arbiter was concerned, if what Keyes had said about Earths Defences, they wouldn't be able to hold for long against the hundreds of Brute ships.

_If only the damned Zealots understood what was happening here._

The doors opened to the bridge and the human commander along with her sergeant took positions along the Arbiter.

"We're going to need to contact our HighCOM and make sure they don't open fire on us." She stated once again.

"Once we're out of slip space you're clear to make the transmission." The Arbiter replied.

"I'll see how the Marines are holding up." The sergeant said, and he walked out the door.

Arbiter sat in the command chair and stared at the navigation console. It would be several more hours before they could make contact the Humans Defences. And then, could they stage their-

The Arbiters thoughts were interrupted by the sudden blackout of power in his ship, and exited slip space into unknown space.

"Status!" He yelled across the bridge.

"Power failures across the board, the Huragok are trying to figure out what the cause is." The Elite at the communications console spoke up.

"Do we have inter-ship communications up?"

"No sir, attempting to recon-"

The lights flickered on and the Arbiter opened up communications with his fleet "Ship Masters Report."

The Arbiter listened to each of his Ship Masters reports and then looked at the navigational display again.

"Where are we?"

The lights flickered again and a deep voice boomed throughout the speakers, "All Covenant Ships you will stop immediately where you are and will now be guided by my A.I into orbit."

"Who are you and what are you doing?!" The Arbiter yelled out.

"_is apparatus of universum spin porro quod porro seorsum."_ The link snapped off.

The Arbiter whispered, _"Requiro subcribo, custodis of flamma. yehlj mos plumbum vos ut bellum, quod forsitan, ut victoria."_

"Is that Latin you're speaking?" Commander Keyes asked in disbelief.

The cruiser began to shake and an explosion rippled throughout the decks.

"Explosive Decompression in Aft Hanger bay six! The ship is moving on its own!" One of the elites yelled before the Arbiter had a chance to speak.

"Ventral Cameras now!" The forward displayed changed and showed the underside of the ship, which was on a fast paced course towards a dust brown, dead looking planet. "After cameras!" The view snapped off and changed again, this time showing the rest of the fleet on the same heading as their own.

"_Arbiter,_ _hostes hostium est fere super nos sis thi njot?" _

"What did it just say?" Keyes demanded

"It's part of an old forerunner poem; left behind by the great ones to inform the species of the flood war. "

The sergeant appeared at Keyes side and said "_The gears of the Universe spin further  
and further apart." _

The Arbiter replied, "_Look for the signs, the keepers of the flame. They will lead you to war, and perhaps, to victory."_

The elite jumped out of his command chair and drew his energy sword, "Commander!" The arbiter drew his sword along with the two honour guards guarding him and charged the Pink armoured being.

The odd thing was the armoured being now had positioned itself in front of the humans as if it was protecting them. No matter, the Arbiter had built up enough moment for a deadly swipe.

In a matter of seconds the Arbiter reached out and performed a vertical swipe with his slash, but in an instant later the being had moved the two humans and him away from the attack. Somehow, it had disarmed Arbiter and his honour guards after the swing.

Arbiters thoughts processed at a rapid pace and his reflexes slowed. Also, his life flashed before his eyes.

In a blink of an eye it was all over, but it had never begun. The memories stopped and his eyes re-adjusted to the scene. The human commander had stepped in front of him with out-stretched arms to take the blow.

The sergeant had his pistol drawn and aimed at the beings armoured head, along with every other soldier in the bridge; plasma rifles glowed, charged and ready to fire.

The Pink armoured foe looked confused for a moment and hesitated; this gave Arbiter the chance to study his foe more carefully. The armour looked old, it was filled with scratches and dents and areas where the color had faded but returned as a sickly green yellow color. Its edge had been smoothed down for less grappling areas, and two wing like objects protruded from its back.

It reminded Arbiter of the pictures of the Angels of the Citadels. The Holy Forerunner beings who were the warlords of the forerunner army. But then that would mean...

"Everyone! Lower your weapons, it means no harm." The Arbiter commanded

It didn't move, either contemplating what to do next or how to kill everything in this room and getting out alive. Either way it stood motionless; the only thing that moved was the door to the bridge as a hunter pair and five humans wielding flamethrowers and heavy gear entered.

The armoured being's armed twitched and plasma rifles once again winked on and charged. The being's armoured joints hissed and locked up, then at once the being collapsed.

"Can someone explain what the hell just happened?" The sergeant growled.

"Seems as if something controlled the armour and shut it down to protect us." The commander stated.

"Or itself," The Arbiter whispered thoughtfully. "Get this thing to a med bay, I want its parts removed and studied. See if you can find anything that relates to the Forerunner archives."

Two Commando elites appeared at its side and disarmed their energy swords "Yes Arbiter, we shall assign the task to-"

"No," The Arbiter cut them off, "You will do it yourselves; you know the archives better then the rest."

"Yes holy one." They kneeled before the Arbiter and activated their camouflage. An instant later two more Commandos took his side.

"Are they always with you?" The commander asked

"Yes, I have two full units for protection and special operations missions; they are commanded by my Ascetic." He explained

"Oh." The commander replied softly, the look on her face said she was not completely satisfied with the answer. Lack of knowledge perhaps? There was much for both Cultures to learn about each other.

"An Ascetic is a Sangheili warrior who has shown the most courage, and the most adherence to Religious and military standards. Ordained by the Sangheili leaders, and blessed by the prophets, they are sent as Zealots to wipe clean the heretics and 'infidels', as well as to inspire those who are under their command to glorious salvation."

"How come I haven't heard of one before?" The Arbiter could tell she was digging deeper into Sangheili life.

_Good. _The Arbiter thought and answered "Yes you have; who do you think took down your Orbital Gun generators on your 'Reach'? They, and their units, are only sent on most important missions or religious tasks."

"I see."

The Arbiter and the commander turned towards the bridge door and watched as it opened but nothing came through. "Here he comes now."

A three and a half meter tall elite in reflective black and crimson armour appeared before the Arbiter. Out of its helmet two 30 centimeter blades protruded.

"Arbiter, he's an Angel!"


End file.
